Rep. Al Green, NAACP demand Houston’s ‘Negrohead Lake’ to be renamed
Green is advocating for the name of the lake to be named after Henry Doyle, the first Black man to apply to the Texas State University for Negroes
A lawmaker has teamed up with the NAACP to rename a lake with a disturbing name.
Congressman Al Green and the Houston Branch of the organization have demanded a body of water in the area named “Negrohead Lake” be changed to “Lake Henry Doyle.”
“As a liberated Democrat, I find the utilization of the word ‘negro’ to denote a person of African ancestry to be greatly offensive,” said Green in a press release.
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Green, the NAACP and other elected officials came together on Monday for a press conference to address the derogatory name of the lake.
“It connotes a caricature of human inferiority reminiscent of a bygone era when blackness was defined by a predominantly white power structure; a power structure that employed the dehumanization of Black people as a means of justification for segregation and invidious discrimination. This is why ‘Negrohead Lake’ must be renamed,” added Green.
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The lake is located in Harris County Texas. Green is advocating for the name of the lake to be named Lake Henry Doyle after Henry Doyle, the first Black man to apply to the Texas State University for Negroes, per KHOU News.
At the time, Black people were not admitted to law schools in Texas so the state created a separate school for Blacks. Doyle began taking classes in 1947 and graduated in May 1950. The school was eventually renamed, Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis is collaborating on the effort. Back in 1991, he co-sponsored the House Bill to remove racially offensive names from public spaces.
“As a more enlightened society – with certain legacy historical exceptions, such as the NAACP – we now recognize that the word ‘negro’ is but one relic from the era of lawful invidious discrimination that must be inexorably expurgated from public property,” continued Green.
“This is why I am an original cosponsor of Rep. Deb Haaland’s (D-NM) H.R. 8455, the Reconciliation in Place Names Act, which would create a process to review and revise offensive names of federal land units across our country.”
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